An adventure in collection, refurbishing, and reselling vintage sewing machines and what is learned along the way.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Anniversary (Continued)

Saturday morning the weather was sunny with a promise of warm so we put on our "it must be summer" clothes of long sleeves without jackets. In Minnesota we might not get to tank tops all summer so lightweight clothes means summer at our house. On our way over to the 200+ neighborhood garage sale we make the mistake of stopping at sales along the way. Complete waste of time when the real mega sale is right down the road! We finally drive up to the subdivision where the sales start and my husband is almost speechless: where have all these cars come from? No parking signs are on one side of every street (for emergency vehicles, I understand), people are walking everywhere with small wagons and carts, even golf carts are making their way along with all the cars looking for an open parking spot. There are even food trucks and Boy Scouts are selling "taco in a bag". After parking, with water bottles and backpacks (husband) we start hiking into the neighborhood garage sale land. Someone has a sign stating there is a mega fishing sale so we follow those signs but stopping along the way. It only takes about 10 minutes before we find the first sewing machine:

Franklin in treadle base (finished stripped)

I'm not in the market for another treadle, but Ellen is sending them to Haiti so I take a photo and send it to Ellen for approval.We bargain for a better price, pay for it, take down each others information (like their address so we can get back there) and continue down the street. I never did make it to the fishing sale but Jim was interested in something for my grandsons because he has visions of taking them fishing. A big loop around the neighborhood and we find ourselves right back to the corner where the treadle waits for us so this time we don't turn but forge straight ahead to find this one:

Bernina 807 "Minimatic" after cleaning

That's right, it's a Bernina 807, the Minimatic. I do my best to stay calm but we get it plugged in and it runs so sweet. Now, to be honest, I already have one of these but my OMSG (old man sewing machine guy) tells me it has to be rebuilt so now it's a parts machine. There are numbers written on this machine in permanent marker so the seller quickly rushes in to tell me that this was a sewing machine her grandma tried to teach her to sew on. She needed the numbers so she could thread it herself but she just had so many problems: she didn't learn and now it's time to let it go. And indeed, she let it go to me. I wanted to carry it right off but we realized we were probably too far from the car so, once again, I paid for it, took down their address, and continued on. Now remember this isn't all about sewing machines and we are picking up other things along the way, so our arms and bags are getting pretty full. At some point we go back to the car to unload but not before we spy another sewing machine that is an all-time favorite of mine:

You will have to wait until tomorrow to read which one I found next so stay tuned!

About Me

How my addiction to vintage sewing machines has grown from refurbishing, to sales, to a repair business. Come along with me as I have learned by doing, making mistakes along the way, taking and teaching classes, all for the love and sense of accomplishment in keeping these ol' gals still running. I think it might be what keeps this ol' gal running, too.